If you've heard about those restaurants in China that serve rats and are put off by the thought, the Taitung aboriginal restaurant Amis may not be for you. Mountain rat (NT$200) is only one of the rodents they serve, and then there are at least four varieties of bugs, including bees' pupae, ants, crickets and cicadas (each is NT$200 a plate). It's actually kind of hard to find anything normal on the menu. Of course if you ask for stir-fried green vegetables they'll have them, and with fried rice or noodles you could also steer clear of the two dozen varieties of animal you never knew that anyone ever bothered to cook. But if you've just come for fried rice and vegetables, the experience would be a waste. The deep fried bees' pupae, for example, are a phenomenal find. An appetizer, they go very well with Taiwan beer, and the experience of eating them is like that of eating popcorn, except that they're a little sweeter, not quite as light, and they have legs. So far I've ordered them on each of my two trips to Amis, and will gladly order them again next time I'm there.
The most recognizable food you'll find on the menu is smoked pork or Taiwanese boar (both of these, by the way, are so tender, thinly sliced and perfectly seasoned that they're absolutely delicious). Everything else is, by most standards, exotic. There is flying squirrel, which, skinned and frozen in the Amis ice box, looks something like a giant vampire. Noticing that there was little meat on the sucker and heeding the cook's warning that the sinew was pretty tough, I passed. I also missed a chance to try the rat, which they assured me was not any filthy city rat like the one that ran across the dining room floor on my first visit, but wholesome mountain rat, trapped in the nearby mountains. They were out of rat, the cook said, because such dishes are seasonal, which seemed to mean they hadn't caught any recently.
PHOTO: DAVID FRAZIER, TAIPEI TIMES
The atmosphere at Amis resembles that of many aboriginal restaurants, rustic, wooden and homey. Several local leaders of the Amis tribe are regulars, and its not uncommon to find a big table settled in for a long night of eating and drinking. More often than not, you'll find yourself invited to join them before the night is done.
If there's such a thing as a Taitung-style restaurant, this is it. So if you have the stomach for it, it's highly recommended.
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